Were 17th Century ‘Witch Posts’ used for warding off witches?
Posts like this have been known as ‘witch posts’ for at least a hundred years due to the theory that they were designed to discourage evil from entering the home. But why?
Three ‘witch posts’
Ryedale Folk Museum, Hutton-le-Hole
The name of the posts is based on the interpretation of the X marking (the saltire or St Andrew’s cross) as apotropaic or protective. Such objects reveal a way of thinking in the 17th century which can sometimes seems alien to us.
We know that in the North York Moors region, ‘witches’ were blamed for all manner of village misfortune. This could include milk that wouldn’t churn into butter, an illness of an animal, or even hailstorms that would destroy the crops. Nowadays, historians do not accept that harmful magic took place. There is no historical evidence of ‘maleficium’, that is harm being achieved through magical means.
These rare posts supported smoke hoods next to medieval hearths. This was the place where buildings were believed to be especially vulnerable to natural disasters such as house fires, but also to supernatural forces. The hearth was also one of the places within a home that people were likely to conceal protective objects. King James I had specifically outlined the importance of protecting the hearth from witches’ familiars in 1597. James claimed that access could be gained through any opening ‘the air may enter in at’. However, it is possible that the protective markings, if that’s what they were, were designed to protect the houses from a range of evils and fearful forces, including household fires.
There are three witch posts in the collection at Ryedale Folk Museum, including this one in situ within the cottage of Stang End, originally in the moorland village of Danby before it was moved to the museum.
‘Witch post’ – Whitby Museum
As well as the three examples at Ryedale Folk Museum, a further post can be found locally at Whitby Museum (as well as two others in the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, also from the North York Moors region).
They are some of the approximately 25 to 30 posts known to exist, or to have existed previously, since some are now been lost.
Activity – what are these curious posts, and what do they tell us about beliefs at the time?
At a glance… click to explore more ‘witch posts’
Talking Points
Do you think the X design was difficult or easy to carve? Have you seen it on other objects?
Would you consider yourself superstitious? Do you avoid walking under ladders and sometimes ‘touch wood’? What other ‘superstitious’ behaviours have you encountered?
Can you think of occasions when we might use an X sign today for protective reasons?
What other symbols do you commonly use?
Why might people have been more anxious to protect their homes in the 17th century than we might be today?
Why do you think ‘witches’ might have been blamed when things went wrong?
Vocabulary
Apotropaic: having protective qualities


Hands on History
There are witch posts on permanent display at Whitby Museum and within the longhouse Stang End at Ryedale Folk Museum. Stang End was moved during the 1970s from the village of Danby and reconstructed as part of this open air museum in the North York Moors.
Museum Location
Museum Location
Discover more objects that share women’s history
Find more objects from the North York Moors